Imagination Library Extends Dolly Parton’s Reading Mission Worldwide

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library continues to send free books to young children around the world following the country music singer’s death Tuesday at age 80. Parton established the program in 1995 through the Dollywood Foundation, initially serving families in her home county of Sevier, Tennessee. Its purpose was straightforward: Mail one book each month to enrolled children from birth through age 5, regardless of family income. The program later reached every county in Tennessee and expanded across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.

Parton created the Imagination Library in honor of her father, whose inability to read limited his opportunities, she said. She recalled that he considered the program perhaps the most important work she had done. What began as a local effort now provides monthly books to more than 3 million children. By 2025, the program had distributed 304,539,509 books worldwide, including 38,310,564 in the United States. In 2024, one in seven American children younger than 5 received a monthly book through the program. Its website now places that figure at one in six.

Research cited by the Imagination Library found measurable differences in children’s reading habits and early literacy skills. After receiving 10 books, participating children were at least four times more likely than nonparticipants to show stronger emerging literacy skills, including vocabulary and phonological awareness. Across the countries studied, enrolled children were nine times more likely to be read to at least four days a week and nine times more likely to show interest in books. They were also 15 times more likely to take part in shared reading. U.S. participants were 11 times more likely to show interest in books, five times more likely to show interest in reading and nine times more likely to initiate shared reading. Parton described books as places where children can discover the beginnings of their dreams, whether they hope to become doctors, inventors, ministers, writers or singers.

Editorial note: FMN prepared this summary from The Federalist's August 25, 2026 report and independently structured it for readers.